A total of 2,000 ghost pensioners have been uncovered in the Cross River State payroll as at July 26, 2024, the Government House has revealed.
The pension thieves, whose identities are yet undisclosed, have been the reason for the delay in the payment of inherited backlogs of gratuities spanning 2014 to 2024.
Recall that the state governor, Bassey Otu, had months ago set up a committee to review the retired civil and public servants payroll to ensure it is free of pension thieves.
However, the Chief Press Secretary to the Governor, Nsa Gill, on Saturday alerted the news media on the latest discovery in the payroll by the committee set up by the governor.
“So far, the audit and verification exercise has uncovered over 2,000 (two thousand) ghost pensioners, who have consequently been expunged from both the state and local government pensions payrolls,” Gill said.
He said in a statement that with the near completion of the exercise to authenticate genuine pensioners, payment of gratuities will commence in August, 2024. The Committee led by the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) has one week from the date of their first meeting to submit its report to the government.
The Government House spokesperson added that Governor Bassey Edet Otu “has approved the sum of N10 billion only to address the outstanding payment of gratuity for retired civil and public servants in the state.”
He said the governor has equally approved the constitution of a committee of the Executives of State and Local Government Pension Unions under the headship of the Secretary to the State Government.
The committee, he said, is expected to meet with the Secretary to the State Government (SSG) on Monday, July 29, 2024 with a view to working out modalities for the payment of gratuities to retired civil and public officers in Cross River State.
It will be recalled that the present administration inherited a backlog of unpaid gratuities of retirees dating back to 2014, a condition that elicited a promise by the present administration to commence payment since last year, but has been delayed due to audit and verification.
